Crolla to fight Linares in 2nd WBA lightweight title defense

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:15 p.m. ET

foxsports

MANCHESTER, England (AP) British boxer Anthony Crolla will make the second defense of his WBA lightweight title against Jorge Linares of Venezuela on Sept. 24.

Linares was declared the WBC lightweight champion in recess last week, allowing Montenegrin fighter Dejan Zlaticanin to win the vacant title in the United States at the weekend.

The fight, which will be staged in Crolla's home city of Manchester, is being billed as a ''unification contest'' by promoters, who say Linares holds the WBC `Diamond' belt.

Crolla beat another Venezuelan, Ismael Barroso, in the first defense of the title he won from Darleys Perez in November.